A/U: Hey guys! So this is a story I'm writing with my best friend iloveunicorns13. We both write each chapter. For this one I've written it and she added in the beginning paragraph and the end. Hope you like it.

Lights flashing red, red as blood. Between the flashes, Seluna could see herself as a tiny child holding a white rose. Flash. Then a hand was twining the rose through her hair. Flash. Then she was older, perhaps seven or eight. Flash. She was staring at the open page of a fairytale book. There was a prince and princess kissing. True love's kiss, and The End was written underneath it. Flash. "I think I'm in love." Flash. "He's using you." Flash. Seluna's blood on the cobblestones. Flash. Once beautiful green eyes dulling to obsidian black, a colour so sharp it could draw blood. Black swallowing Seluna up, so it was all she could see. She was drowning in it. Then a white swan flew across her vision and something new began.

Seluna awoke from the dream at exactly three o'clock, as she did every night. The dream was always the same, and always different. Seluna turned over, she needed to fall back to sleep.

As she walked down to the square, Seluna took in the frantic parents, muddying children and making them kick cats or smile at the elderly. She new it was in vain. Each year the parents of Gaveldon tried to counter their children's deeds by muddying the good's faces or making the evil hand out cakes to the less fortunate.

Each year two children were taken, regardless of how muddy their face and clothes were or how many cakes they had handed out. Two children would go this year too. Besides, she thought, the chances of her being taken were slim. She was once a bright, cheerful girl. Always on the lookout for someone to help. But now she kept to herself. Seluna used to believe in kindness and honesty. She used to want to make her life make a difference. But then she discovered what betrayal was. She shuddered at the memory and pushed it down. She never tried to make friends. After all, if you don't let them in, they can't hurt you.

Well, one thing was certain. Ade would be taken for evil. Slimy, putrid Ade. Seluna's only wish was that tomorrow she wouldn't be within spitting distance of that slug. Ade was hated by any girl with half a brain in her head, but by Seluna more than anyone. The problem was, she knew him. Better than she wanted to. She could see through his tricks and his pretences. If he's nice sometimes, and evil others, that just made him all the more evil.

Seluna waited in the shadows. Verra was with Ade, and Seluna didn't fancy barging in on that meeting. Seluna's best friend was one of the girls in Gavaldon who didn't have half a brain in her head. Verra and Ade were best friends. Seluna spotted them outside Verra's house, talking. Ade was as repulsive as always, Verra's pretty, heart shaped face tilted up to look at him, intent on his every word. They hugged. Seluna swallowed the sick feeling in her throat.

Verra stayed outside until Ade was long gone. Seluna rose from her crouch.

"Verra."

"Hi Sel."

"You know Ade will be taken."

"I don't know that for sure. He's really quite ni-"

"He's using you."

Verra winced, "No time for niceties today?"

"Everyone thinks that you'll be put in Good."

"They're wrong. I'm friends with Ade, remember?"

"He's your good deed."

"You know me well enough by now. I'll be in be in my own bed tomorrow morning."

"Verra..."

"I know. Everything will be different tomorrow. Ade won't be able to touch either of us."

"You really have no idea what he did to me, do you?"

"I don't understand Ade. But I understand you."

"Really?"

"You're so selfless, Seluna. You're beautiful and caring. But you hide your face behind your hair, scared that someone will knock you down if you expose it to the light. If I were to be taken tonight, I would miss you." Verra surprised Seluna by enveloping her in a hug. It was only Ade that had kept the apart in the last few months, thought Seluna. Still, maybe their friendship wasn't meant to be. Our lives are separating now, anyway, she thought. Seluna had no idea how right she was.

When Seluna went to sleep that night, she thought she saw a shadow flitting across her window...